Tuesday, August 5, 2008

After posting this cake, I received several emails and comments from people here in Brazil asking me where I had bought poppy seeds, because they couldn’t find the seeds anywhere. I had no idea there was something going on – I had purchased the package a while before that.

I call the store I usually buy spices from and the employee told me that poppy seeds had been forbidden in Brazil for a while; now, they are no longer banished, but there are so many rules for importing them that the companies prefer not to. I am so mad! I don’t write about politics on my blogs because it’s not my goal and I respect my readers, but I thought that forbidding poppy seeds is too much – there are so many illegal and wrong things happening in Brazil that they should worry about what really matters.

I baked these super yummy cookies months ago and publish them now hoping this ridiculous situation ends soon and Brazilian cooks and bakers can use poppy seeds again.

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF; line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a small saucepan, bring lemon juice to a simmer and let reduce by half. Once it has reduced add ½ cup of butter (113g) and let melt, remove from heat and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In another bowl whisk remaining ½ cup of butter (113g) and 1 cup of sugar (200g) together until smooth and creamy. Beat in egg and melted lemon-butter mixture, beat on medium-high with an electric mixer for 3 minutes, or until very light and pale in color. Mix in vanilla, poppy seeds and 3 teaspoons of lemon zest; once combined, add dry ingredients and mix on low until smooth, you may need to stir in the last 1/3 to 2/3 of a cup by hand. Blend until smooth.In a plate, combine the remaining ¼ cup of sugar (50g) with 1 teaspoon of lemon zest – rub the sugar and zest between your fingertips to obtain a lemony sugar. Roll leveled ½ tablespoons of dough into small balls and place on a prepared cookie sheet, 5cm (2in) apart. Using a very slight moist glass, dip the bottom into sugar mixture and flatten cookies, follow by sprinkling a few poppy seeds and a pinch of the sugar+zest mix over the top of each cookie.

Bake for 11-12 minutes (mine needed 14) or until perfectly golden around the edges. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack.

37 comments:

Seems to be my lucky day...I have a bag of poppy seeds that a friend got for me from Ukraine. A little goes a long way & I know just what to make now...have been on the trail for something like this for long! Gracias!!

Time to get out into the streets and start a major poppy protest. Here in California there are a ton of things that are not considered food safe anymore, many of which I use for my cookie and cake decorating, such as silver dragees and gold luster dust. Crazy.

Huh? What did they think you'd do to them? Make opium? That is kind of silly. You're absolutely right. Besides, it would be a great injustice to deprive Brazil of these pretty cookies, and send them out without their crunchy adornment!

That is so odd that they've been banned in Brazil! Here in Australia, I think you can only buy them in bulk if you're a baker because some people use them as a drug. I remember seeing one woman on tv who bought bags of them and spent all day chewing the seeds and getting high.

It's so interesting to find out what ingredints different countries have and don't have. No poppy seeds in Brazil! Who knew?! They have them in Canada, so I'll clip this post and make some soon!Shari@Whisk: a food blog

My gosh! What will lemon become without poppy seeds? I remember at University, I always got a lemon-poppy seed muffin for breakfast at the cantine. My friends would joke that I'd gotten addicted to poppy seeds. Pfft! What do they know!

Those cookies look delicious Patricia, and I'll add my name to the list of people you can call upon to send you poppy seeds if you ever need them! :)

OH My.. Brazil has a ban on poppy seed? Very strange. The Middle East has a ban on the white poppy seeds.. you actually go to jail for a long time if you try to smuggle it in. But on the other hand, black poppy seeds are available in stores. Go figure..Regards Q8